c l o s e
by NataSuke
Summary: They are both damaged goods and somehow manage to fit so good together. Sasuhina anbu-team, post war, mature content later on HIATUS
1. Prologue

the Bunny and the Hawk

excuse my grammar.

Prologue

"Shh" he almost hissed at her as he pushed her back harshly against the wall, his hand covering her mouth. With his head bent down he looked with fierce eyes into hers through his messy bangs. The young woman swallowed and nodded. Her head feeling dizzy from the proximity and his scent that filled her nostrils, manly and intoxicating. She could feel the heat blooming over her cheeks and tore her eyes away from his in embarrassment.

She listened carefully for the footsteps on the other side of the door, there were many of them, probably ten or more. But no one seemed to bother with their door for some reason.

"Genjutsu", he whispered, his breath fanning warmly over her face. When she looked up again she was met with his blown pupils, his face even closer to hers now.

"Sasuke?" she whispered and brought her hand up to grab his hand that was still covering her mouth.

"Hn" was all he said in return as he removed his hand from her mouth. But he didn't back away, still practically glued against her body. And the young woman didn't let go of his hand either, for some unknown reason.

The air between them was thick and almost electrified with words that were left unspoken between them. Sasuke pressed closer to her, their noses touching and lips only a few inches apart. Hinata's eyes fluttered close in anticipation, a fire burning in her gut. She was so confused, but right now this felt right, she shivered when he entwined their fingers and brought her hand above her head, pressing it and her body securely against the wall.

"Do you want me?" he asked teasingly, almost mockingly, his lips grazing lightly against hers. He smirked as he watched her eyebrows furrow together.

"Y-yes" she said to both of their surprise.

That was all he needed. Swiftly, the last Uchiha captured the Hyuga princess lips with his own.

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Please let me know if you want more.


	2. Chapter 1

So this is a few months prior to the prologue.

Pardon my grammar.

Chapter 1: a new duo

"I refuse to choose any of these." Sasuke said with a frown of disgust, taking a step back from the table were all the photos and journals laid scattered. He crossed his his arms over his chest and looked at the grey haired hokage.

"They are the only ones that you can choose from" Kakashi raised his hand to stop The Uchiha from talking. "We've gone through this already, Sasuke, no you can not be in an ANBU Black Ops team without any teammates. No exceptions. That's final… Now - choose one".

"Hn", It was to no big surprise that the Uchiha wasn't very fond of the idea of having a teammate to drag him down. "It's almost only women here".

"Yes, since you didn't come when I first called you over, most of the men were taken. Pretty sexist if you ask me… stupid as well." Kakashi shook his head in disappointment. "If you want me to, I can give you a few suggestions. Mira Yamanaka for an example, she got one of the highest scores in the test. If I'm correct I think you were in the same class once in the academy."

Sasuke shrugged and shook his head. "I want a teammate, not some crazed fangirl. But the only guys that are left are a joke, they wouldn't last more than a day."

"Ayasaki-san?" Kakashi said and pointed towards an older lady.

"She looks ancient, give me a serious suggestion".

"She's thirty, not a hundred!" The hokage looked offended. They were clearly not getting anywhere and Kakashi got a feeling that Sasuke wasn't even trying anymore.

"If you don't choose a partner I'm afraid you'll have go back into being a genin Sasuke. Then you'll have to go through the chunin exams again. This was the only fast way that you could do anything above a c-ranked mission. But I'm sure that you don't mind it since you don't even want to choose a teammate for yours-"

A knock on his office door interrupted Kakashi from continuing.

"You can come in!" He said, ignoring Sasukes glare.

In walked a fully black clothed anbu. The anbu bowed deeply towards the hokage, white rabbit mask still on, with only two purple strikes on either side of it. "The mission was completed sir, here's the scroll from the snow village." The female anbu walked over to his desk and handed him the scroll.

"Where are your teammates?" Sasuke said without hesitation. Thinking that she was actually working solo. Why could she but not he, what was so special about her?

The woman, who was much shorter than him looked at him, acknowledging him for the first time since she had entered the room. She looked back towards Kakashi.

"We were ambushed on our way back, they took us by surprise, Hato and Ōkami… they didn't make it", her voice quivered a bit, her head lowered.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I know… how it feels to lose team mates" Kakashi didn't know what else to say. Hinata had changed so much since she became an ANBU two years ago, she and her team were definitely some of his best ANBUs.

"So that means she needs a new teammate, right?" Sasuke turned to the smaller girl. "You survived, then that means you were stronger than them".

"Sasuke! She just lost her teammates, don't be so inconsiderate, she probably needs some time before she can go back to work again, and that is fully understa-"

"No!" She interrupted the Hokage, "Excuse me, Hokage-sama, but I would rather go back to work as soon as possible".

"Hi-... Bani, are you sure? There's nothing wrong if you feel like you need a break." Kakashi tried, almost forgetting to use her anbu name, she actions hadn't been healthy lately, pushing both her and her to their limits, and probably beyond.

"You heard her, she said she's fine", Sasuke snarled, he couldn't understand why Kakashi were treating an ANBU as if she was some sort of baby in need of being taken care of. Sasuke was nineteen and she seemed to be around his age, so he couldn't see why Kakashi was babying her.

"If this is what the both of you want…" Sasuke waited for the young woman to nod her head before he did. Kakashi didn't seem too pleased with the situation, but he guessed this was the only way that Sasuke would choose a partner. He opened his drawer and pulled out Sasuke and Hinatas files, as well as both of her deceased teammates. Kakashi handed over her teammates files to her, Hinata didn't even look down at them.

"You can give them to their families. And please give me the report of the mission by tomorrow".

Hinata nodded, "Yes, sir".

Kakashi looked down at Sasuke and Hinatas files, eyebrows raising slowly as he compared their files to each other. Hinata had almost gotten as high points as Sasuke in her tests before, in stealth she had been best of her year.

"You two… are… very compatible partners, I must admit. Sharingan, Rinnegan and Byakugan, very powerful, indeed." Kakashi paused and looked up at the two of them, they were as silent as usual. Now that he was thinking more about it they were actually very similar to each other, only The Hyuga had less of a killer vibe to her, even though he knew that she had taken more lives than he could count on his fingers.

"But, I don't want to do anything without being sure first. I want the two of you to be sure as well, especially you, Bani." Sasuke frowned, getting more irritated by the grey haired man the more he talked.

"I'm assigning the two of you to a month of sparing together, if it feels right after that, I'll see what mission that will fit the two of you." Kakashi ignored Sasuke's grumbled words and shot a glance towards the clock. "I'm afraid that I'll have to end the meeting here, I have an appointment with Naruto soon. Bani, don't forget the mission report."

"No, sir"

"Tomorrow at training ground 7, at dawn." Sasuke said simply.

"Yes captain", and almost as soon as she disappeared into smoke Naruto barged into the office.

"Oh, Teme! There you are! Sakura's been looking almost everywhere for you!"

"Baka stop shouting, it's annoying" Naruto ignored his words (why did it feel like no one took him seriously anymore?).

"Anyways, before you go, teme. Konoha 11 are having a little get together now that everyone is actually in the village for once, Ino thought it was worth a celebration. Will you come?" Naruto didn't look like he really expected Sasuke to even answer his question.

The Uchiha thought about it for a second and decided that he could just leave if he didn't like it. "Sure"

Naruto looked at him in disbelief, "Really?"

"Why not", he said as he headed towards the door.

When Sasuke were gone Naruto looked at Kakashi with a puzzled face, "I did not expect that…"

…

They were all already there when he arrived at the restaurant, Naruto was the first one to notice him (obviously) and welcomed him to sit down next to him with a big smile. Sasuke didn't say anything as he sat down, everyone in the room seemed to grow awkward and quiet except for Naruto who complained loudly about his time with Kakashi going through some "stupid and boring" papers, as he liked to phrase it.

After a while people started talking again and Sasuke sat quietly and looked at all of them, they hadn't changed that much, except for the fact that everyone were taller and looked slightly more mature.

Everyone were clearly sitting next to their teammates, Sasuke sat next to Naruto who sat in the middle of him and Sakura, next to her sat TenTen and Rock Lee. On the other side of the table team 10 sat and in front of him sat team 8, only they were only two, like team 11.

"What happened to your teammate?" Sasuke asked bluntly, he didn't feel like beating around the bush about, he knew what happened to Neji but he didn't even remember much about team 8.

The table fell silent, everyone looked at each other as if it was a taboo subject to talk about.

The dog boy looked ready to jump at him, but he sat still with his hands and jaw clenched, his face slowly shifting into sadness instead of anger.

"A war can change a person, she lost many who were close to her", the bug boy answered, short and simple.

"Hinata is almost never in the village anymore. And it's all my fault…" Naruto said, uncharacteristically depressed.

"Naruto-kun..." Sakura didn't know what else to say so she just put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, you shouldn't blame yourself, Neji died protecting Hinata. That isn't your fault. It's Hinata who is just having a hard time accepting it." Tenten spoke up, she sounded tired.

Sasuke thought back to the time at the academy, he could remember the shy Hyūga heiress. It didn't surprise him that she would break after the war, she didn't seem to be the strong type.

* * *

Please let me know if you enjoyed and or want more, feedback is always welcome

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To that person writing the "you're a f cking n-word" reviews on guests, grow some guts and face me, otherwise I can't take you seriously. And I'm actually really trying to.


	3. Chapter 2: Training ground 7

**NOTE:** I read one of the reviews from the previous chapter and was reminded that Kakashi shouldn't really tell Sasuke Hinatas name. So i've changed that. But it has actually inspired and changed this story a tiny bit now. And I'm actually kind of excited about that.

Excuse my grammar

* * *

Chapter 2: Training ground 7.

Uchiha Sasuke arrived about half an hour early to the training ground. And as he had expected the ANBU woman were already there, punching repeatedly against a tree stump. Sasuke decided to sit back and study her, trying to understand more of her as a person and shinobi. She had her anbu mask on and he could see her bloody knuckles, he knew how much it probably hurt to continue to hit the tree stump. She was stubborn alright.

When he had had enough of watching her masochistically punch the tree stump he walked over to her. Experimentally he grabbed one of his kunais and aimed toward her left shoulder blade. The ANBU spun around and caught it in her hand, Byukugan probably already activated.

"How long have you known of my presence?" he asked, slightly curious.

"Since you left your apartment", she lied.

"You're a terrible liar"

"Since you got out of bed", she prefered to lie, it made people feel more comfortable around her.

"Your range is pretty good" he acknowledged.

"I can reach 10 kilometers radie, more or less", she said softly and gave him back his kunai.

Sasuke nodded, he didn't know much about the Byakugan except for the common knowledge about it. "What's your nature type?"

"Fire and lightning release" she said, knowing that he had the same as well.

"Do you know how to do the Chidori?" maybe Kakashi were right, they did seem to fit well.

"Nobody has thought me it, so no".

"We'll get to that later. Let's spar, no ninjutsu or genjutsu" he could see the way she quickly eyed his new left bandaged arm before she looked away, nodding as she took her stance in front of him. Her dark blue hair was long, but she had managed to make a braid that hung down to her waist. It was too long for an ANBU Sasuke thought for himself as he lunged forward, kunai in hand.

The Hyuga wasn't just fast she was very graceful with her moves and quick on her feet, spinning and avoiding his hits seemingly without any effort put into it at all.

Activating his Sharingan he transported to her and got a punch at her ribs. Hinata stumbled back with a squeak and brought her hand up to her ribs, they were probably broken. She couldn't help but feel satisfied with herself and decided that playing on defence was over now.

They lunged at each other, Sasuke getting some good punches in, he aimed mostly towards her stomach and ribs. Hinata wouldn't be surprised if she would have internal bleedings when Sasuke was done with her. But that would only be a sign that she still wasn't strong enough, and that maybe she would never be strong enough, not even when she had Hamuras chakra in her could she stand a chance against Sasuke.

But she didn't give up, she continued to take every punch that came her way, avoiding only a few. But a certain hit against her temple made her see mixtures of white and black as her head and the whole world spun around her. Hinata fell against the ground.

Sasuke crouched down next to her, and with a kunai in hand he nudged her in the ribs with it, making sure that it was a spot that he had hit before.

"Get up", he ordered and nudged her again, harder this time.

In a swift and smooth move Hinata kicked out her leg towards the Uchiha, making him fall on his back, she quickly jumped on him bringing a kunai against his neck. She breathed heavily her whole body protesting her last move. Hinata could feel Sasukes kunai pierce the skin on her stomach, drawing blood that dripped down on his hand.

Hinata stood up, ignoring how she could practically hear bones snapping as she did so. She offered a hand to the Uchiha who was still lying on the ground.

Sasuke simply ignored her hand and stood up.

"I brought an extra bento with me… if you want, I saw that you didn't eat any breakfast", she said, and tried not to limp any when she made her way towards her backpack.

Hinata almost fell down when she bent down to grab the bento, but decided that Sasuke could go and get his if he wanted it, so she sat down, leaning her back against the tree stump that she had previously trained on. The young woman, sweaty from the intense spar session removed her sweatshirt so that she was only wearing her black fitting crop top and her loose jogging pants.

She decided that healing herself was probably the best thing she could do now, if they were going to continue later on, she should at least be able to stand without feeling like her legs would buckle beneath her at any second.

With her hands glowing with green chakra she started with her torso and ribs. Hinata bit down on her tongue to stop herself from screaming, she could feel the bones rebuilding and it wasn't a pleasant feeling, at all. after she had fixed all of her internal injuries as well as she possibly could she searched her bag for her homemade healing ointment. Hinata rolled up her pants and sighed when she saw how much blood there was there. It stung when she applied the ointment but it quickly numb away.

She knew that the Uchiha had been looking at her, but she managed to pretend as if he wasn't even there.

"You can take a punch" Sasuke was the one to break their silence. And for some reason he was continuously giving her compliments, it was weird.

"I guess I have gotten used to it…" She said softly, a tint of sadness in her her voice. Sasuke ignored that and looked down at his finished bento box, this girl was a really great cook, Sasuke noted.

"Your teammates, tell me what happened so that we can avoid that from happening again", he knew that it was probably a sensitive subject, but Sasuke felt like he had a right to know.

Hinata looked at Sasuke, her face broke into sadness she thanked her mask covering her face, "It won't, trust me..."

"Hn", he was about to tell her that he didn't trust anyone but himself, but decided that if a similar situation happened he knew that he would make it out alive.

Hinata studied the Uchihas face, she'd figured out a while ago that he probably didn't know who she was. He obviously knew that she was from the Hyuga clan. But she felt a sense of relief knowing that he didn't know anything about her, like she was a step ahead of him, which felt like it was a first for her.

He really wanted to see her face, he wanted to know who he had chosen as a partner. She felt different, somehow, Sasuke just couldn't pinpoint why. "I didn't choose you out of pity, nor to pity you, Hyuga".

"Call me Bani, and I don't want your pity", she said. "Do you want… pity, Uchiha-san?"

"I want acceptance and understanding, pity is for the weak", Hinata nodded, understanding what he meant.

Hinata felt at ease, finally. That sitting there next to someone like Uchiha Sasuke would feel so freeing was probably her last expectation. But somehow there was a mutual understanding between the two of them, no pity. Hinata smiled to herself.

"Do you want help with that, I can apply some of my healing ointment", she asked him when she saw the cut at the side of his neck, "It could get infected".

Sasuke gave in with a, "hn" and craned his neck slightly so that she could get easier access to it.

Her cheeks heated up slightly and she applied her ointment quickly. "There, it should heal fine".

When Hinata turned to pack her ointment into her backpack she could swear that she heard the Uchiha mutter a quiet "thanks", but she thought that it was probably best if she didn't ask him, since it was probably a rarity of him to tell someone things like that.

"I thought that I could teach you Chidori after you've finished your bento" Sasuke said and looked towards her to see her reaction, forgetting that she had her mask on.

"Oh, and maybe we can do some some chakra control exercises afterwards?" she asked and felt relieved when she saw him nod.

….

The Hyugas chakra control was really no joke. Sasuke looked with raised eyebrows at the female anbu holding a Chidori in her right hand, one and half an hour and she had already learned how to do the Chidori, for sasuke it had taken weeks. He could feel slight jealousy bubbling in his stomach, but managed to bury those thoughts, thinking that she had learnt it because he had taught her well.

"I did it!" Hinata whispered with excitement and looked up at Sasuke. Sasuke sensed that she was about to lose control of it so he grabbed her arm and slammed it into a tree next to them. A loud boom later and the tree was almost gone from the blast.

Sasuke let go of her arm, "If you want to keep both of your arms intact you need to be careful and precise when you use the Chidori, it's nothing to take lightly".

Hinata could feel laughter bubbling up, but she contained it successfully. _Oh, the irony_ , she thought as she swept some dirt off her pants.

….

Maybe Hinata shouldn't find amusement in the fact that Sasuke actually sucked at chakra control. Maybe geniuses couldn't exceed in everything. But obviously it was easier for Hinata to control her chakra flow since she could actually _see_ it, so maybe it was a bit unfair, but at least she could guide him better than anybody else could, tell him where it all went wrong and where to focus more.

When it was late Sasuke had actually managed to make some of the water fly away in something similar to spikes. He wasn't too pleased with it, but Hinata assured him that most couldn't even make the water leave the lake.

After hearing that he actually felt slightly better about himself.

….

Sasuke and Hinata weren't very vocal with each other, but there was still that mutual understanding between them that came as a surprise for the both of them. They enjoyed the silence that surrounded them. Where Sasuke had his flaws, Hinata had her strengths and vice versa.

After about two weeks it was pretty clear to the two of them that an ANBU partnership between them wasn't actually such a bad idea.

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Please let me know if you like what you're reading, so I know if i should continue writing this story or not.

I really wanted to keep narusaku here but people are so butthurt so i removed it. whatever, hopefully i ruined someones day.

Pee pee

 _I'm probably gonna change the name of this story since i hate the current one. just wanted to let you know_


	4. Chapter 3

Thanks for all the lovely comments!

a bit of Naru/Saku bashing in this chapter, people aren't really a fan of them in konoha 11. I hope that people don't mind it too much.

Excuse my grammar (but it will hopefully become better)

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Chapter 3:

"Sasuke-kun!" a familiar voice called out to Sasuke as he walked down the busy streets of Konoha. He continued walking, just slightly slower so that he could let Sakura catch up to him.

"Sakura," he greeted back. A silence fell between them as they continued walking, it was awkward and tense. But he didn't say anything, she was the one who had came up to him so she should be the one to speak first.

"So… I heard from Tsunade that you decided to get the arm transplant after all," she tried to sound casual, but everything was anything but casual between the two of them. In fact, Sasuke couldn't even believe that Sakura still wanted to talk with him after all that he had done to her. He couldn't decide if he was impressed with that or not.

"Clearly," he said and did a little rais with his left hand to prove his point. Sasuke didn't mean to sound so arrogant, but when someone asked him a question they clearly knew the answer to he couldn't help but to feel slightly irritated.

Sakura swallowed and tried not to take it too personally and kept her head high. "I just wanted to tell you personally that I'm really… glad that you're back in the village. And I just want to…" Sakura trailed off and slowed down. Sasuke turned around and looked at her, thinking first that it was a threat of some sort, that turned out to be wrong.

"Hinata-san!" Sakura shouted, shocked, and then she dashed towards three people sitting at a bench further down the street. The three people stood up and greeted Sakura, Sasuke shut his mouth about how awkward and stiffly it looked.

"How are you? You've been gone for so long, what have you been doing lately?" Sakura asked, she probably didn't mean to pry, but that was exactly what she were doing.

"Nothing really…" the young woman mumbled, her throat seemingly soar. Even from Sasukes distance he could see the black circles underneath her eyes, she looked like a walking corpse.

 _So this is the one the war "changed"_ , Sasuke thought to himself as he walked away.

 _Pathetic…_

"Hinata-san, you know that you can talk with me whenever you want to. I'm almost always in the village so… yeah, you can come whenever you want to," Sakura said and put her hands on Hinata's shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze.

"I appreciate your concern Sakura-san. But I'm fine," Hinata tried, but she could see the concern and guilt in Sakuras eyes, she wasn't convinced at all, "really."

"Okay," Sakura said in defeat and let go of the younger womans shoulders, "if you say so."

"I actually have to go, maybe I'll see you around?" there wasn't really much more the blue haired woman said before she left her two team mates and Sakura standing in the middle of the road looking upset and worried.

"How is she, like _really_?" The pinkette turned to team 8 when she was sure that Hinata was out of hearing distance.

Kiba, feeling tense and uncomfortable, looked down at his feet and kicked some dirt instead of answering her.

"I don't think that we can answer that for her, Sakura-san. She hasn't really spoken to us either, especially not about Neji… nothing about you and Naruto either, just in case you were wondering," there was a bite to Shinos words and Sakura recoiled back quickly upon hearing it. With a terrible feeling in her stomach she took another step back.

"I didn't mean to hurt her… it just happened," Sakura tried to explain to them.

"'You didn't mean to _hurt_ her?'" Kiba broke out, canines showing as he glared at her with hatred. "Sakura, you encouraged her _and_ Naruto! They kissed and he declared his love for her, then a few months later he tells her that he likes her like he likes fucking _ramen_! Then a month after that you and Naruto are together… do you even feel any shame Sakura?"

"What do you _think_!?" She shouted right back at him, her voice breaking. "But I'm not gonna apologise for loving someone anymore, I've done that enough now".

Kiba smirked evilly at her and took a few step forward so that he were looming above her, "Now that your Sasuke-kun is back, are you just gonna leave Naruto? Trade up, is that what you do?"

Sakura pushed him away from her, her eyes stinging and her knuckles twitching to do so much more, "Fuck you, Kiba… you're just upset because she will _never_ want you".

She pushed Kiba harshly to the side with her shoulder as she passed him by. Then she ran away, she felt shame, anger, sadness and regret and so much more her head was swimming with all of her feelings.

Minutes later and with tears streaming down her face she knocked on the door in front of her, her head drowning in different emotions.

The door opened just a few seconds later, Sakura didn't even wait for him to say anything, she lunged at him, arms like vice around his neck.

"Sakura?" Naruto tried to break away from the kiss, worried by her behaviour.

"No, please… just kiss me and shut up Naruto," she said in between her kisses to his neck. "I really need this right now".

Naruto could feel her tears against his neck, and he really wanted to ask her about it, but Sakura could be very persuasive when she needed to.

It was hot, desperate, and quick and when they were done the sinking feeling in Sakuras stomach had simply intensified. She felt sick and dizzy, so she left the sleeping Naruto alone and left his apartment and went home. She knew she had to do something about it, but she had tried everything. And maybe that was just it, she couldn't be forgiven for what she had done. Maybe some things couldn't be forgiven.

"So, I reckon the both of you have decided if you want to continue being an ANBU team. How did it go working together?" Kakashi asked the two of them and looked at them with anticipation.

Sasuke looked at his ANBU teammate, he still didn't know of her name or who she was, but for some reason he felt like he could trust her. There was just this feeling about her, as if she could sacrifice her own life for anyone.

"I'll let Bani-san answer that", Sasuke said.

The shorter female took short moment to think it over before she spoke, "I think we have a great flow together, a mutual understanding within our teamwork. I would really like to work with Uchiha-san".

Sasuke simply nodded in agreement.

"Okey, if you're both agreeing," the Hokage said as he opened one of the drawers and took out a black and blue bird mask. "From now on you'll be addressed as Kuroi Taka when you're on duty" he said as he handed the mask to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked down at it, he could see the similarities between his black bird mask and that of his teammates white and purple bunny mask, his blue stripes on the same place as hers.

"I have a mission for you guys, it's in the frost country. There's been a bit of a commotion going on in the village, there is an increased activity with crimes in the village and the ones surrounding it. I sent out a scout team to investigate the situation, they suspect that Kuso Goro - a rich and important businessmen from hidden sound village - has something to do with it. He's been seen there a lot lately. Your mission is to find evidence supporting our scout's findings. Since he's probably always surrounded with his accomplices. But if you do find proof there's going to be a gala, Kuso Goro's going to attend to that one, you two are going to be there undercover as guests. Find him and assassinate him", Kakashi finished.

There was a lot of information to grasp and take in, but Hinata understood and nodded none the less.

"So, we're just gonna assassinate him without even giving him a chance to defend himself?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"This is the ANBU, it's not pretty neither is it orthodox, it's quick and quiet. If that's not something for you I suggest that you leave" the hokage wasted no time and stared at Sasuke, waiting for his answer.

"No, I was simply making sure" he muttered, voice low.

It had surprised him how Bani had just agreed to an assassination just like that, as if she didn't mind it at all. Sasuke could kill people in general without caring too much - years with Orochimaru tended to do that to some people - but Bani wasn't like him. Sasuke may not know much about her, not even her real name, but someone who made an extra bento to a stranger and made healing balm didn't seem like a ruthless killer to him. On the other hand, she was smart, stealthy and with the help of her Byakugan she could be like a ghost if she wanted to, so in a sense she _was_ the perfect assassin. But it still felt out of place.

"Good, your mission starts tomorrow and will last for about a week, more or less. This will be an undercover mission, so you'll both need some color lenses to hide your kekkei genkais."

"Got it", Sasuke said.

Hinata simply nodded and bowed at Kakashi in response, feeling torn about the mission. After all; one of the things she liked the most about working with Sasuke was the sense anonymity that she felt when she worked with him. Now that would be no more.

Sasuke on the other hand couldn't help but feel excitement at the thought of finally seeing Bani's face. Even though it wouldn't really change anything, he even felt slightly stupid for even feeling excited about it at all.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the gate, around 7 o'clock?" Sasuke said and looked down at his new teammate, he saw how tense she was and wondered why.

"Alright."

* * *

 _So most of my chapters will be around 1-2 thousand words and i don't think that i will make them any longer. This way I can give you guys a new chapter every week._

 _we're nearing the prologue when it comes to the timeline._

 _Please let me know if you like what you're reading._

 _Thanks!_


	5. Chapter 4

**People die and people leave. Shit happens…**

 **^^^ my excuse for not updating. But I have some more ideas for this story, weird stuff will happen.**

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Hinata and Sasuke walked in silence together towards their destination, had been for a few hours now. The Hyuuga had had this unfamiliar… _feeling_ in her stomach, a feeling she didn't have all that often called _anger_ and she was trying her hardest to suppress it.

"Is there anything that I've done?" Sasuke asked and continued to look forward.

"I didn't think you liked talking Uchiha."

It was a short and simple answer, Sasuke was supposed to like that. But he didn't, he didn't like her silence either, for some reason it was unsettling to him. Maybe he didn't even know her real name, or even how her face looked for that matter, but they were never usually this quiet together. During the two months that they spent together they would at least talk. Not much about themselves but Sasuke thinks he got a pretty good idea of how Bani worked, and how she thought.

Sasuke grabbed her elbow and stopped walking. She turned around and faced him.

"What?" Hinata snapped and stared back at him, her white eyes glowing back at him through her mask. She didn't remove his hand though, so Sasuke kept it on her arm but loosened his grip slightly.

"I won't take another step until you tell me what's wrong." Bani hadn't looked away from him even for a second, her stare intense. He could feel how fuming she was but he stayed put.

She scoffed and removed his arm with a snatch. "I had an agreement with the Hokage. And he didn't keep his side of the deal." The masked anbu turned around and continued walking.

Sasuke stared after her for a few moments before he simply gave up and continued walking as well.

After a day of walking they decided it was time to put up a camp.

It was just at the outskirts of the sound nation. Considering Sasuke's background with the Sound Hinata had thought that the man would be more anxious or distressed than what he was. Sasuke had already removed his ANBU mask and vest.

Hinata didn't speak as she prepared their dinner. Just plain vegetable soup this time, because she didn't feel like making anything fancy.

With her Byakugan activated she could see the sidelong glances Sasuke looked at her. She deactivated her Byakugan and began shopping some carrots – yummy.

By the time she was done with murdering all the vegetables she heard a cough and looked up, startled. It was at instances like these that Hinata really couldn't thank her mask enough. Because in front of her stood a very half naked Uchiha with only his black sweat pants on.

She could feel her face heating up at the sight of him and looked down. "What?" Hinata snapped and praised the lords because she managed not to stutter. Sasuke crouched down in front of her, and if it weren't for the fact that he was the team leader she would've probably pushed him away by now. Instead she looked up.

Sasuke just looked at her for a few moments, it was really starting to bother him that he couldn't see her face. He looked at the so called food that she were preparing and sighed.

"Is that our dinner?" it was just an honest question but he could sense how the air around the woman in front of him darkened and quickly added; "It looks delicious."

"Thank you", she said and tried to look anywhere but his abs.

"I was just going to go get a bath in the river, I'll be back in a bit."

That sentence was just code for 'don't use your Byakugan', and Hinata blushed deeply at just the thought of doing that.

"Yes, sure, that's great." she rambled on as she tried to inwardly convince herself that she wasn't some huge pervert. The Uchiha wasn't even her type!

"Thank you for the food, Hyuga." Hinata simply stared down her half finished plate of vegetable goo, she couldn't believe that Sasuke had actually finished his plate. But even more so, Hinata was trying to erase the image of the naked Sasuke that she had on accident happened to catch sight of with her Byakugan earlier that day. That proved to be much more harder than she initially thought. Right now she was just trying to keep calm so that Sasuke wouldn't know what she had done.

Hinata looked at the campfire, then at Sasuke on the other side of the big fire. He was already looking at her, with a humorous glint in his eye. Hinata panicked for a few seconds as she believed that he had found out.

"You remind me of my old sense, Kakashi", Sasuke said and smirked.

Hinata raised an eyebrow in question, but quickly remembered that he couldn't see that. "Why?"

"I've never seen your face. You even eat with that mask still on your face." Sasuke said and poked at a log in the fire with a large twig.

"How do you know you've never seen my face?" she whispered and threw her food in the fire.

Hinata had taken the first shift for the look out during the night. She was supposed to wake up Sasuke and switch with him, but she had decided to do an all-nighter instead. That had turned out to be a bad idea.

She woke up with the smell of something burning. And just a moment later she heard Sasuke shouting something in the distance.

"Are you..." Sasuke was now in front of her, with a hand on her shoulder. She was too confused to even say anything and even more weirded out by the way he stared at her.

But the realization dawned upon her as she raised a hand slowly to touch the mask that had slipped down to her neck.

She shrieked loudly and pushed the Uchiha away from her.

"Don't l-look at me!" She begged and hid her face behind her hands.

Sasuke on the other hand couldn't help but feel like his world had been turned upside down. He knew who the real Bani was all this time? And it was none other than the shy Hyūga princess. That was like watching a bunny kill a wolf; it just didn't make any sense to him.

"All this time… and all your friends think you're inside your compound all day." he said, more to himself than to her, but she heard.

"They wouldn't understand; they still see me as someone in need of being protected… weak." she said as she put the mask back on her face.

Sasuke couldn't really say that he blamed her, when he thought of Hyūga Hinata he thought of someone who was weak and timid. But his teammate was not weak nor timid, she had stealth and she was calm.

"I found out after they had died that my father had ordered them to sacrifice themselves for me if it came to it." she will never forget that moment, or how sick she had felt afterwards. Just like with Neji.

Sasuke didn't know what to say, he was still finding it hard to believe that his teammate had been Hyuga Hinata all along.

"You should pack your things, we need to get going."

Hinata felt relieved that he had already dropped the fact that she was Hyuga Hinata.

Now it was just the assassination left to deal with.

* * *

 **Ok so i won't be all apologetic since I've been feeling like shit for about a month. I haven't even edited this chapter and probably will not until I'm done with this whole story. So if you can't handle mess, wait a year or two and then come back.**

 **Ok? Good ;***

 **And thank you to all of you who reviewed, it really motivated me to continue with the story.**

 **(thanks to all the silent people in the crowd as well)**


	6. Andante

**_Andante_**

* * *

Sasuke couldn't deny it, he had replayed the moment when he had seen her face over and over again in his head. How she had stared so intensely at him first before it turned into shock. The Uchiha wasn't much of an aesthete, he valued brains and skills over beauty any day, but there was no denying it that Hinata just happened to be exactly his type. It had gotten to the point to he couldn't even walk behind her without getting distracted.

He was a man attracted to women after all (give him a break).

He had given up on trying to convince himself that seeing her face hadn't changed anything. Because it had.

"Are you cold?" it slipped out before he even could realize it. Why did it matter if she was cold? She had a god damned winter jacket on! It looked as if she had just lived with the Inuzukas her whole life with all that leather and fur.

Hinata turned her head and looked at him, clearly confused. She had stopped wearing her anbu mask, since there was no point in hiding anymore.

"I'll manage", she answered him. They would soon arrive at the gala in the hidden frost village and Hinata could feel the nervousness build up.

Everything as far as his eyes could reach were white with the snow, like a snow dessert. The wind was cold as ice against their cheeks, but Hinata didn't seem to mind it. Her nose was pink just as her cheeks and she tried to bury her whole entire face in her knitted scarf.

It was… _cute._

It was a new concept to think of Bani as anything close to cute. Bani was strong, efficient and level headed. This Hyuuga woman, she was known for being cute, shy and affectionate. They were not really alike at all – and yet they were exactly the same.

With one more look at her blooming cheeks he returned his focus to the mission.

"We should put in the contact lenses now." Sasuke stopped in his tracks and opened his backpack and handed her the little box with the black colored contact lenses. Hinata took them and thanked him.

"So…" he said, this would be one really awkward attempt at a casual conversation. "Should I still call you Bani or do you want me to use your real name?"

Hinata stared at him with her one free eye, with her finger putting in her contact lense in the other. She looked a bit shocked and confused. Sasuke looked away.

"You should refer to me as Ariyama Miyu during this mission. When we're back in the village I wo-wou-… I would prefer if you could remain my identity a secret." she looked up and they locked eyes, she had put in both of her black colored contact lenses now. If Sasuke had been any other person he might've lost his breath at the sight of the woman in front of him and who she resembled.

She looked like the spitting image of his mother, except she had bangs. After a while he realized that he was staring at her and looked away to put in his own contact lense in.

When they arrived, a few hours later, Hinata realized how big the gala was. She knew that it would be fancy since Kakashi had told them to bring their finest evening gowns and tuxedos. But this was like something out of a fairy tale, with hundreds of people and a large mansion (it was a castle in Hinata's opinion). The hotel that they had checked into earlier was just as luxurious, with a bubble bath and a large king sized bed.

(Sasuke had said that he would sleep on the couch and Hinata had been very surprised with how gentlemanly he had been.)

They were there as Jirou and Miyu Ariyama, a newlywed couple in the business industry who had a lot of money. Kakashi had worked really hard on their cover, just to make it seem as legit as possible.

She looked to her side when she felt Sasuke jab her lightly with his elbow. Hinata looked at him confused for a second until she realized what he was getting at and grabbed his arm with a light blush blooming over her cheeks.

"We're supposed to married after all", he whispered lightly so that only they could hear. She smiled and he smirked.

They continued walking up the grand staircase to the entrance of the mansion. The entrance were these large two white open wooden doors with a magnificent glass work around it.

When they got inside it was warm and smelled of foreign food, delicacies and drinks. Hinata couldn't help herself but to inhale deeply and look over at Sasuke with a huge smile.

A man came over to them and offered to take their coats for them.

Then they walked into the ballroom and Hinata almost dropped her jaw to the ground. It was beautiful. High ceilings with amazing chandeliers hanging down illuminating the ballroom with an almost magical light. Some people were dancing to the music that was being played.

Being born in the Hyuuga family meant money, they were one of the richest clans out there. But she was used to the traditional kind of luxury which was much more subtle and humble.

"You look beautiful by the way."

She truly did look beautiful in that silver colored evening gown fit but covering on the top and it flowed like a waterfall down to the floor.

Hinata who had almost entirely forgotten about Sasuke's existence next to her at the sight of the ballroom jumped slightly and looked at Sasuke. What he had said finally registered and she blushed and looked down at her dress and flattened some of the fabric on her stomach. She had to admit, the dress was really beautiful with all the small details and quality. But Sasuke didn't look disappointing as well. He wore a nice black tailored suit with a silver colored tie, with his hair up with some hair gel.

She looked around and noticed that some people were close to them and figured it was just an act.

"You look really handsome."

The following hour they just conversed as the newlywed Ariyama's. They switched, so that one was always talking and the other was supposed to have an eye out for Kuso Goro and his gang.

Hinata decided it was time to address her concerns to Sasuke and squeezed his arm to get his attention. Sasuke craned his neck so that Hinata could whisper into his ear.

"He hasn't arrived, I should go somewhere and activate my Byakugan."

Sasuke shook his head and whispered back. "We can't break our cover, he might sense our chakra."

"You're a really good-looking couple – and so young!" It was an elderly woman with grey hair who had spoken. Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other, still close from whispering to each other, eyes locking for a few seconds.

"Young love is really precious, enjoy it while it lasts!" The woman said, half jokingly as she looked at her husband. The older man just rolled his eyes and the people laughed.

"I'm glad to see people enjoying themselves!" Hinata twitched slightly when she felt a hand on the small of her back. And when she looked to her left at the man who had joined the little group she masked her emotions. It was Kuso Goro.

It felt as if all the color on her face drained but when the older man smiled at her she smiled back none the less.

"Let me introduce myself; I'm Kuso Goro, the host of this event"

* * *

Thank you for reading!

(remember I will edit this story when I'm **finished**.)

Please review to show some love, it really motivates me

And to that guest; Hinata's chakra nature is fire and lightning, look it up.


	7. Asphodel

**_Asphodel_**

* * *

Sasuke skillfully manages to replace the older man's hand on Hinata's lower back. He is proud of her, she looks unfazed by the other man's presence next to her.

"It's nice to meet you Kuso Goro, I'm Ariyama Jirou." The man reaches out his hand and Sasuke grabbes it to shake it. "This is my wife Miyu."

Hinata smiles, "It's pleasure to meet you, Goro-san."

Sasuke clenches his jaw at the sight of the old man grabbing Hinata's hand and kissing it. He can feel the muscles in her back tensing up with her discomfort under his palm, but she manages to smile through it.

Kuso Goro has two lifeguards behind him, probably jounin ranked, they look too expensive to be chunin.

Kuso Goro was really not a pleasure to meet, he was sleazy and disgusting, he payed too much attention towards Hinata for Sasuke's liking.

After a few minutes Hinata starts to answer Goro's questions with short simple answers. The old man gets the picture and soon excuses himself from the group of people.

"If he wasn't so rich I would've slapped that man years ago." It is the old woman again, her words lightens up the mood and some people laugh.

"This is the first time you meet him, dear." her husband says.

"I know, but still; he was one sleazy old bastard!"

More people laugh but Hinata still feels ill after the encounter with the man. She doesn't let him out of her sight, though, as she makes sure to keep one eye on the man. Except for the sleaziness and the overall disgusting aura of the man he doesn't seem too different from anyone of the guests.

It isn't until she sees a sound shinobi that she is really sure that they have the right man. She nudges Sasuke, he looks down at her and nods.

They excuse themselves from the group.

"Kuso Goro is in an office, two two levels up. He has five bodyguards in that room", she deactivate her Byakugan and looks at Sasuke. "We can't just storm in there it will go out of hand, civilians might get hurt."

"You're right; we need a distraction." Sasuke never really cares about the consequences of his actions, but now on this mission he has to.

Hinata feels ashamed at her thought of what tactic that came to mind.

"I can eliminate him, you can go on the outside and keep guard outside the window" she suggests.

Sasuke looks at her, confused. "You just plan on walking in and killing him?"

"Not exactly… I'm not the best at it, but all female ANBU's has to learn how to sedu-duce…" She stutters and feels ashamed of herself for even suggesting it.

Sasuke sighs, he's not too keen on that idea but he can't come up with a better idea himself so he nods.

"Let's do it. I'll keep guard outside the window".

Hinata knocks on the large wooden door. It takes a few seconds before a guard opens the door. He gives her a once over look (Hinata ignores his lingering look at her breast area).

"What do you want?"

"I just want to speak to Kuso Goro. I'm a friend of his." she tries and manages not to stutter, the guard just gives her a suspicious look.

"Miss Miyu?" Kuso Goro appears next to the bodyguard and Hinata gives him a smile. "Come in here".

The guard holds the door open for her and Hinata walks in. Kuso Goro walks over to his desk and points to a chair in front of it for Hinata to sit in.

She walks over and sits down in it.

"What brings you here? I did not get the impression that were very fond of me earlier" he says and crooks an eyebrow at her.

"Well, not with my husband next to me. But I find you to be a very attractive man".

Sasuke gags at her words outside the window, and Hinata does the same but internally. Kuso Goro is the exact opposite of what she finds attractive.

"Oh, really?" Hinata nods and Kuso Goro looks at his bodyguards, "Take a little break while I have a little conversation with Miss Miyu here".

The guards all look a bit resistant at first but they budge when the older man nearly shouts at them to leave.

Hinata sighs in relief when they close the door behind them.

Kuso Goro stands up and walk around the desk and sits on it. Hinata stands up and takes a step forward. The man is quite short, maybe an inch shorter than her when she was in her high heels. She knows the the guards are not standing right outside the door so she proceeds.

"We'll have to hurry, I have a meeting with someone soo-" his eyes grow big and Hinata retires her hand from his chest. A harsh precise hit with chakra against the heart stops it immediately.

He looks at her "Why?"

Hinata doesn't answer and soon after the man falls to the ground. He was filthy and disgusting, Hinata doesn't even feel slightly guilty.

She walks over to the window and opens it.

"You ok?" he asks when she opens the door.

Hinata nods.

"Let's go back before they notice".

"Shh" he almost hisses at her as he pushes her back harshly against the wall, his hand covering her mouth. With his head bent down he looks with fierce eyes into hers through his now messy bangs. The young woman swallows and nods. Her head feels dizzy from the proximity and his scent that fills her nostrils, manly and intoxicating. She could feel the heat blooming over her cheeks and tore her eyes away from his in embarrassment.

She listens carefully for the footsteps on the other side of the door, there are many of them, probably ten or more. They found Kuso Goro faster than what they had expected. But no one seems to bother with their door for some reason.

"Genjutsu", he whispers, his breath fanning warmly over her face. When she looks up again she is met with his blown pupils, his face even closer to hers now.

"Sasuke?" she whispers and brings her hand up to grab his hand that is still covering her mouth.

"Hn" is all he says in return as he removes his hand from her mouth. But he doesn't back away, still practically glued against her body. And the young woman doesn't let go of his hand either, for some unknown reason.

The air between them is thick and almost electrified with the words that are unspoken between them. Sasuke presses closer to her, their noses now touching and lips only a few inches apart. Hinata's eyes flutter close in anticipation, a fire burning in her gut. She is so confused, but right now this felt right, she shiveres when he entwines their fingers and brings her hand above her head, pressing it and her body securely against the wall.

"Do you want me?" he asks teasingly, almost mockingly, his lips grazing lightly against hers. He smirks as he watches her eyebrows furrow together.

"Y-yes" she says to both of their surprise.

That is all he needs. Swiftly, the last Uchiha captures the Hyuga princess lips with his own.

Hinata quickly kisses him back. The kiss is slow but electrifying and warm, she's never experienced something like it before. His lips are soft against hers and she wants to touch him, feel him, anything. But Sasuke is holding her hands firmly against the wall. He ends the kiss and leans back his head and stares at her.

"There's something different about you".

It quickly dawns upon Hinata what they had just done.

"We should leave".

* * *

Yooo I'm back from the dead! Here's some of that sasuhina for you guys. None of the naughty naughty yet tho, but this will definitely change the relationship between the two of them.

Thanks again to all of those who review, favorite and follows! Especially those who review you really fuel me to continue writing.

Hope you like it! And please review what you think will happen now, let's see if anyone can guess it.


	8. Bastille

_Bastille_

* * *

Knocking on doors before entering was not Sasuke's type of thing, especially not now. He opens it in a hurry, almost ripping the door of its handles.

"Sasuke?" it was Naruto, Sasuke ignores him and focuses on the grey haired hokage.

"They took her…" he had not realized earlier how exhausted he had become.

"Sasuke why aren't you wearing your anbu uniform?" Kakashi probably referred from bringing up Hinata's name with Naruto in the room.

"Orochimaru took Hinata."

* * *

Hinata wakes up in a dark room in a state of delirium. Everything is dizzy and she cannot remember how she even got there. She tries to move but something is restricting her from doing so.

She closes her eyes and tries to calm down her beating heart. If she cannot move she has to at least try to remember how she even got here in the first place. What can she remember?

Sasuke.

She had been on a mission with Sasuke in the snow village. She had assassinated the target. She grows flustered when she remembers their kiss.

' _How unprofessional'_ she dismisses it and tries to remember more.

They had been ambushed just a bit away from the mansion after they left. Sound shinobis.

Orochimaru.

She remembers it now, he had moved towards Sasuke from behind him. Hinata had pushed Sasuke out of the way then it all went black.

Hinata tries and manages to move her head a bit, lifting it up to see a bunch of IV's in her arms and legs with the blood infusions in them connected to some machine next to her bed.

She does not have enough time to really process what she is seeing before the door is opened, with Orochimaru himself and some other girl walks inside.

"She woke up" the girl says, she looks like she could be in Hinata's age, maybe even younger. She wore a white robe and her complexion looked almost green (or maybe it is the light, Hinata does not bother herself to figure it out).

"Oh, great it will be much easier for us this way" Orochimaru walks next to her bed where she is being strapped down and Hinata tries her best not to look away.

"When my spies told me that Sasuke and a Hyuga was headed towards the snow village I couldn't help but to change my plans. Of course I let you kill Kuso Goro, I don't need him anymore. Mika you can sit down and make yourself ready" the young woman nods and sits down on a chair next to the big machine that Hinata is hooked up to.

"The sound village is not as happy with the truce after the war as the Kage's might think. But obviously they're too preoccupied with themselves to even notice" Hinata does not say anything, she is not even sure that she can speak yet, so she continues to listen.

"Now, little Hyuga princess, why am I telling you all of this?" he leans in closer, so that his long black hair touches her face and Hinata cannot help herself but to close her eyes. "My body is getting worn out – I need a new one."

Her eyes shoot open and she stares at him in horror. Orochimaru just smiles.

"Of course I could take anyone from the sound village, some people have even offered, but it wouldn't have so much of an impact and I want a kekkei genkai" he lifts his hand to stroke her cheek, Hinata flinches but does not look away this time.

"I was going to take Sasuke first, but now thinking about it this might just be better. The Hyuuga princess, nobody would suspect it. You have Homura in you as well have I heard, I can sense it" he laughs, or whatever someone might call that sound that comes out of his mouth.

"The Hyuugas, so proud and pure, I should've thought of it sooner. There's just this one little problem; your chakra quantity is too low. Mika you can turn it on now."

Hinata looks to her side to where the machine is standing, at first she had thought that it was some sort of blood transfusion machine but instead blue chakra slowly went from the young woman named Mika and separated into four to her arms and legs.

"You see, chakra capacity is a strange thing. It is almost like a rubber band; you can extend it with some resistance. You just can't do it too fast or it will snap. It will hurt."

With that being said Orochimaru leaves the room.

* * *

"What do you mean 'Orochimaru took Hinata'?! Hey, hey teme I'm talking to you!" Naruto goes hysterical, like usual.

"There are some things you don't know about Hinata" Sasuke turns to Naruto and glares at him, "She's not some weak little girl".

"I never said she was!" Naruto shouts back at him.

"You behave as if she was" Sasuke continues to stare at him.

"Stop behaving like boys, you're adults now, behave like it" Kakashi turns to Sasuke. "What happened to Hinata?"

"We had finished the mission and were on our way back. Hinata didn't have enough chakra and couldn't use her Byakugan so we couldn't see ambush up ahead. It took less than a second; she pushed me to the side and then she just disappeared. Orochimaru had left some sound shinobis behind who told me who took her" Sasuke stops for a moment, he can see the look of disbelief on Naruto's face in the corner of his eye. "I took care of them."

"So you're saying that Hinata is some anbu or something? Ha! That was a good one I almost believed you there for a second!" Naruto laughs and pats Sasuke on the back. "Hinata can't even hurt a fly."

"Maybe not hurt an innocent fly, but she sure can assassinate a criminal" Sasuke snaps back at him, not finding it to be of any laughing matter at the moment.

"Okay let's say that I believed you, why do you even care about what happens to Hinata? You only care about yourself, Sasuke" Naruto says and lifts an eyebrow accusingly, as if he thinks that Sasuke will reveal that it was just a prank any moment now.

Sasuke goes silent, does he care? Yes he does; Hinata is his partner, she cared enough to push him away. Then he thinks about their kiss but he quickly dismisses it, it has nothing to do with it.

"She's my partner…" Sasuke turns to Kakashi again. "Kakashi, Orochimaru wouldn't do something like that just because, he always have some agenda behind it."

"I trust that you're right with your concerns about Orochimaru, but you didn't see him right? They might've lied to you, Sasuke" Kakashi sighs and turns his chair around to look out the window, he does not look forward to bring the news about Hinata to her father Hiashi. He shudders at the mere thought of it.

"Wait… you're serious?" Sasuke turns to Naruto who just spoke.

' _Finally he gets it…'_ Sasuke thinks and shakes his head.

"Orochimaru took Hinata? Didn't he become good?" there's a lost look in Naruto's eyes, guilt almost. Sasuke does not know the extent between Naruto's and Hinata's relationship together, but he knows that they dated. Maybe Naruto still has feelings for her.

That thought pisses him off.

Sasuke grunts and focuses on Kakashi once more, "Organize a search and rescue team for me, I'll wait at the gate."

"Sasuke, you need to re-" Sasuke interrupts Kakashi before he can even finish his sentence.

"I'll wait at the gate."

* * *

YUPP not such a long break this time. But it's going down for real now.

 **THANK YOU to everyone who review you are the ones who give me that extra push to continue writing!**


	9. Ember

_Ember_

* * *

It is the weirdest feeling to have your chakra capacity stretched, or whatever Orochimaru called. At first Hinata had almost enjoyed the feeling – warm and comforting – but it is slowly becoming more and more uncomfortable, painful even. But it creeps on you slowly, like putting your hand on a stove and then turning it on she could not really distinguish when it turned into pain.

Mika, the young girl who is giving her chakra, had fallen unconscious a couple hours ago. Orochimaru probably intended to drain her completely.

Hinata herself is starting to freak out, having chakra enter your body and then being strapped down was not a great combination. She can feel herself almost going mad, her toes tingling.

So, she thinks about Sasuke. What happened after she left him? Did he make it out alive? Since it is Sasuke he more than likely managed to get out of the situation.

' _I wonder what he's thinking right now…'_

* * *

 **Time skip**

"This is all your fault! I should rip off your head!" Kiba walks up to Sasuke and glares up at the slightly taller male, he is completely furious.

Sasuke does not blame him since he blames himself as well… " _She_ pushed me to the side."

"How can I know that's true? You probably helped Orochimaru!" Shino grabs Kiba's shirt before he can get any closer.

"Kiba, it doesn't sound too out of character for Hinata to do something like that. She did do it for Naruto two times." Shino says.

Naruto quickly looks away, ashamed. He had almost forced Kakashi to let him come with them on the mission. Sasuke is still confused about the blondes feelings for Hinata, Naruto is probably also confused.

"I can't see her here… Do you pick up her scent, or has you kikaichuu's picked anything strange up?" Hanabi came back from her surrounding check. She is the only Hyuga with them and seems to be pissed all the time in Sasuke's opinion. He just does not care enough to ask why.

After the sun goes down they all sit down around the fire Sasuke had made. He looks around the hope in their eyes were fading, they probably thought she was dead.

Maybe Sasuke does not know Hinata as well as they know her, but he knows the Hinata that they do not. The Hinata he first got to know was fearless and strong and detrimend, but the Hinata he knew when he last saw her was vulnerable, selfless and kind, but she would not let anything stop her.

"It's been almost a month…" Naruto whispers as he stares into the fire, expression lost. "What if she… if she's…"

"Shut up!" Hanabi snaps at him and throws her empty can at him from the other side of the fire. "She would never give up on you, so don't you even fucking dare think about giving up on her!"

"If you hadn't fucked her over the way you did she would've probably never become an ANBU and got herself into this situation in the first place!" Kiba snarls and wakes up the sleeping Akamaru behind him.

"I broke up with Sakura!" something drops in Sasuke's stomach.

"No." It slips out of Sasuke's mouth before he realizes that he thought out loud.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Naruto questions.

"Nothing…"

Sasuke is not really one to try to fool himself, he knew that whatever feelings he felt towards Hinata was beyond just simple friendship and lust, he just did not know to what extent. But he also knows that he does not stand a chance if Naruto changed his mind.

"I was scared, Hinata loved me so much it was something I've never experienced before… I didn't know how to react to it so I let her go" Naruto says with his head down, he looks like an ashamed dog.

"You don't deserve her, not after all you've done. My sister loved you _so_ much, you don't even know… you were like a shining star to her!" Kiba pats the younger girl on her head, Hanabi starts to sob. "Please just let my sister be, you were her world then you disappeared right underneath her feet you can't come back from that..."

"She didn't seem to be that sad…" Sasuke decides to cut in, he is after all the one who spent the most time with Hinata before she got abducted.

"She didn't?" Hanabi looks at him through teary eyes. She had the same kekkei genkai as Hinata but they were nothing like hers at the same time.

"No" he shakes his head, then he notice how everyone are staring at him, probably wanting him to elaborate. "She is a good - no - a great anbu. I didn't even know who she was at first. And if I did I'm not so sure I would've even chosen her to be my partner…"

"Is she amazing?" Hanabi's tears are gone now and she looks at him with hopeful eyes.

Sasuke cannot help but think about their first spar together, how he had probably broken a few bones in her body and how she had offered to heal him and give him food afterwards. He cannot help but to smile for a second at the thought of the memory.

"She's is amazing" he answers finally, Hanabi nods and smiles.

And then, like out of thin air, a young white haired man appears in front of them.

* * *

Hinata does not scream anymore, she cannot. Gasps of air comes out instead of any sounds, her vocal cords are too worn out. Her cheeks are itching from all the dried tears and nosebleeds. She had an incident when her eyes started bleeding as well, that was when she thought that she would actually die.

Now she hopes for death to take her.

The teddy bear lying next to her head mocks her.

Orochimaru makes sure that her death will not happen though, she now has a tube down her throat where he force feeds her, and she is hooked up to a blood bag at all times.

It is hell. This is exactly how Hinata imagine hell to be like. She cannot even describe the feeling anymore, but being set on fire internally is probably the closest to it that she can get.

Mika had died two weeks ago and had been replaced with a brown haired male, Shirui. He had actually talked to her, explained what he was doing there. It was money and food. After the war the sound village had apparently ended up in a bad situation with many starving. Orochimaru had offered to help anyone who helped him in return.

Shirui had known Mika and her family and told about how they had gotten food and a home almost immediately after she had volunteered. After that people had literally lined up.

"She was a really brave girl who truly cared more about her family than herself…" Hinata could not manage to blame them after he had told her that.

They were desperate.

Shirui only lasted four days, Mika had lasted almost an entire week before she was completely drained.

After that it was an older lady; a mother, she lasted less than a day.

Then a young boy, probably not older than ten. He had brought his teddy bear with him. He had given her his teddy bear just an hour before he passed, he had been so scared…

" _Take care of Mr. Kuma…"_

After that something had snapped for Hinata, people came and went and she could not even look at them anymore.

" _This one drained quickly…"_

Dream or reality? She cannot tell the difference anymore the only thing she knows as a reality is pain.

* * *

Yes you guessed it! I'm back at it again with another fanfic. This is for the big break, I was going through some shit and forgot that writing helps _a lot_.

You can follow me on my new tumblr account "NataSuke" if you want some of that sasuhina and updates.

Thank you, from the bottom of my Hinatits loving heart, to everyone who review, (I see you and youre awesome) follow, favorites or even just reads this story. OP Hina on the way.

;)


	10. Aphelion

_Aphelion_

* * *

Both Sasuke and Naruto are in front of thee boy in less than a second, Sasuke holding his Katana steadily against the sickly looking boys neck.

"Who are you!" Sasuke demands, about to draw blood if the man is not quick enough to answer.

"Ken-... Kenta! My name's Kenta…" the man says falls to his knees in front of them.

"What's wrong with him?" Kiba questions behind them. None of the men know the answer and stare at the white haired man on the ground in confusion.

"He's almost completely dried from all his chakra" Hanabi answers them and moves over to the man and crouches down in front of him. "Who did this to you?"

"You…?" he points at Hanabi.

Hanabi turns her head and looks confusedly up at the men behind her, they all look just as surprised.

"Your eyes…" the man whispers.

Naruto quickly goes down and grabs the man's shoulders to make him look them in the eyes.

"What about her eyes!"

"Naruto, be careful! He's on the brink of death don't push him too much" Hanabi orders and grabs the white haired man's hand in hers to transfer some of her chakra. She nods.

"Tell us, what is it about her eyes?" Naruto says, calmer this time.

"They're like that girl's… the one who took my chakra."

They all go silent for a few seconds and Hanabi turns around to look at them, her eyes hopeful.

Sasuke's heart starts beating faster, this might be it; Hinata might be alive…

"Where? Where is she!" Kiba demands an answer with a shout.

The man points, seemingly to nowhere, straight into the woods. They turn to Hanabi to see if she can see anything. She shakes her head.

"Genjutsu… Kiba follow the man's scent!" Sasuke orders him and Kiba does not question him this time.

He jumps up on Akamaru's back and starts following the trail. They all leave the man behind and run after the Inuzuka.

They run for maybe a little more than half an hour, but no one seems to be tired. Kiba stops in the middle of a field.

"I still can't see anything", Hanabi says and deactivate her Byakugan.

"I can… sense it" Naruto bursts out, ecstatically. "Below us, I recognize her chakra!"

Since Sasuke knows Orochimaru he is not surprised by the scale of his hideout. It cannot be called anything less than an underground maze with its many dark lit paths.

Hanabi on the other hand stops as soon as she has walked down into the hideout. Her eyes are wide as she lifts her hand to her mouth.

"What?" Sasuke whispers.

"Nothing, follow me this way!"

Kiba had to stay behind above the ground, mostly because Akamaru had refused to go down but also to keep guard.

It is a long way and they have to move relatively slowly to not make any noises. They do not even talk as they move in silence through the the huge hideout.

After a while Sasuke starts to pick up a familiar smell. It is that of decaying bodies, it smells rotten but but pretty new.

It does not take long before they get to where the smell is coming from. A pile of bodies in different sizes lay against the wall, maybe ten or more, Sasuke does not count.

"She's in here…" Hanabi whispers and puts her hand on the handle, she pauses for a moment and takes a breath before she pulls the handle down and opens the door.

Sasuke braces himself expecting the worst, most definitely a blind Hyuga, maybe something even worse…

The room is badly lit with a single fluttering light hanging from the ceiling. Hinata is right beneath the light, strapped onto a bed, with a tube in her mouth and IV's in her body.

Hanabi rush over to her sister, she does not even hesitate. Naruto quickly follows suit.

Sasuke takes his time to get over to the bed. He looks at her and tries to find what Orochimaru might have done to her, because she still has her eyes. Those eyes that were blankly staring up at the ceiling, not seemingly noticing Hanabi nor Naruto.

Sasuke went to the end of the bed and removed both of the IV's in her feet and inspects the seal on her left foot. It was not the cursed seal, just a simple one that would enable her from using any chakra.

He releases it. Hinata immediately starts to shake uncontrollably. Everyone backs up in surprise, Naruto and Hanabi freezes and cannot seem to look away from Hinata.

"What did you do?" Shino questions silently.

"I released the seal, it was a chakra containment seal."

"We need to hurry. There's no doubt that Orochimaru didn't notice that…" Hanabi says, Naruto nods in agreement and takes Hinata in his arms. Hinata sees as the teddy bear is left on the bed and reaches her arm for it. Naruto misses it and quickly makes his way out the door.

Sasuke does not miss the way that the stupid blonde looks at her before he dashes out the door, but he takes the small teddy bear with him.

Sasuke plans what he is going to do when he is outside. At first he thought of fighting that old snake but he let that thought go, he should probably focus more on getting Hinata to the doctor.

As soon as they were outside Sasuke summons his Hawk and turn to Naruto, "I'll take Hinata to Konoha, you kill him…"

Naruto nods and hands the Hyuga over to Sasuke carefully. As soon as she is in his arms he can feel the way her body is almost vibrating.

"I'll come with you" Hanabi says and jumps up on the Hawk after Sasuke.

* * *

"Sakura, Sakura… forehead!" Ino snaps her fingers in front of Sakura's face to bring the girl back into reality.

" _What_!" Sakura sneers at her friend.

"Don't give me that attitude! Ever since Naruto left you've been a total bitch, if I'm honest" Ino leans back in her chair an cross her arms over her chest, she is getting sick of Sakura's attitude.

"Oh because _you_ would be just fine if Sai broke up with you to go look for his ex?" Sakura scoffs and crosses her arms as well.

"First of all; Sai doesn't even have an ex, second; everything is not about you! Hinata has been _abducted_ for almost a _month_ and you're sad because Naruto broke up with you!? Do you know how narcissistic you come off sometimes? And now you aren't even listening to me, so typical."

It is true Sakura's mind were somewhere completely different as she looked up at the huge bird in the sky, immediately recognizing it.

"They're back!"

* * *

A short chapter, but still a chapter... Now it is about to begin. The chapters up until now has just kind of built up the foundation of what this story will be about.

Once again I read all your comments and I am so astonished by the continued support. I really hope that you like reading it as much as I like to write it for you.

Until next time


	11. Ambivalence

_Ambivalence_

* * *

Seven different Hyuugas came out of Hinata's hospital room, they were the first who got to see her, obviously. Hanabi looked emotionally and physically exhausted as she came out of the room. But she acknowledged Sasuke with a small nod, her father waited by the door until everyone in the clan had left the room and had started to walk down the hallway.

When everyone were gone Hiashi turned to Sasuke. He could feel the confused glances that Kiba and Shino gave him before they walked together with kurenai and her daughter into Hinata's room.

Hiashi walked over to Sasuke, he was dressed in the traditional Hyuga clothes and stood tall in front of Sasuke. He gave Sasuke a sweeping once over look with those cold eyes of his. Sasuke didn't take anything to heart, he knew what kind of person Hiashi was.

"Uchiha" he greeted with a slight tint of disgust to it, mostly probably because it was hard for the Hyuuga to forget the rivalry between the Hyuuga and Uchihas that once existed.

"Hyuuga."

"As I know it you are my oldest daughter's anbu partner. I am here as the clan leader and as her father to inform you that she will no longer participate in any shinobi activities after she has recovered from her injuries. This decision is final."

The Hyuuga then just disappeared into smoke.

' _Of course he would send a shadow clone'_

* * *

Shino, Kiba, Kurenai and her child walked out of her room just a few minutes later and Sakura stuck her head out of the door to see if there were any more people there to visit Hinata. She looked chocked for a second when she saw Sasuke sitting there patiently on one of the couches. She gave him a tired smile and waved him over.

"I need to tell you something before you see her…" She said in a hushed voice.

Sasuke looked at her, annoyed. "Can it wait?"

"No it can't" she said and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from walking inside. Sakura truly was a strong woman, it wouldn't surprise him if people got bruises just from her hugs.

"What is it?"

"Orochimaru… what he did to her took a huge toll on her body. Especially her mind, Sasuke. She has been in and out of it the whole day" she let go of his shoulder and continued talking. "Her mind almost got fried because of all that forced chakra, she barely even remembers the war, Sasuke…"

"Let me see her" he knew and understood what she was trying to say, and if that was the case then he wanted to at least be able to talk to her, maybe she would regain some memories by seeing him.

He had brought her back, he hadn't hoped for more than that. But he had secretly wished for more and maybe that was why he felt sick to his stomach at the thought of her not remembering him.

Sasuke opened the door and ignored the pitiful look in Sakura's eyes before he closed the door behind him.

Hinata was sitting up in her bed, with not a single scratch on her. She looked healthy, her hair shiny and skin glowing. She turned her head away from the window to look at him as soon as she heard the door close. Her cheeks quickly bloomed red at the sight of the last Uchiha entering her room.

"Hyuuga."

"Uchiha."

They both greeted each other and Sasuke decided go over to her and sit on the chair next to her bed.

She could barely look in his direction, especially not with the way he was looking at her. In her world they had never even talked to each other before, and he was still the little brat who had betrayed the village.

Sasuke broke the intense silence.

"How are you?"

"I... I-I think that I will be f-fine" Hinata stuttered and looked down at her twiddling fingers resting on her lap.

"What have they told you?" he asked.

"Tha-that we were… par-tners?" it should be a statement, but it came out as question.

Sasuke frowned upon hearing her stuttering, he paused for a moment and then lifted his hands to place them over her face. Her skin felt soft and firm beneath his hands.

"What are you doing?" Hinata questioned and looked up at him through his fingers.

"You never stuttered when you wore your mask" is Sasuke's simple answer.

A small smile broke out on her face and she felt as if something had been lifted from her shoulders.

"What?"

She grabbed his hands in hers and took them off her face. "Thank you..."

Sasuke does not say anything for a while and just looks back at her. Hinata then let his hands go and Sasuke stood up again. "When will you get out of here?"

"I don't know, they are running a few tests on me but haven't found anything yet… besides the amnesia. I feel fine though..." She answered honestly.

"Right. Let's spar when they let you go"

"I'd like that" she smiled, again.

"Good."

The awkward silence came back and Hinata returned to fiddle with her fingers. Her hands were really small Sasuke noted.

(' _Cute…'_ )

"For how long were we anbu partners?" she whispered without looking at him.

"Not very long, roughly two months" he answered, Hinata nodded to herself.

"It's hard to believe that I have been an anbu… there are many things right now which are hard for me to believe" she looked up at him. Sasuke didn't say anything, he has never been good at comforting people so he wouldn't even attempt to.

"They told me that Neji…" She choked up and looked away in embarrassment, she doesn't know why she's opening up like this – and to Uchiha Sasuke of all people! But maybe it is true what they say, that it's easier to open up to strangers. Only thing is; Sasuke knew her, she didn't know Sasuke.

"It's confusing. But Sakura is saying that I will probably be getting my memories back once my mind has healed completely."

"I'm sure it will be back to normal soon" he tried.

"... They told me that you and Naruto saved everyone in the war. That was really brave of you" it almost felt rehearsed to listen to her words, but he would take it, she was trying.

"Is that the way that they phrase it?" he said, masking his amusement. "I can't imagine that it was Kiba who informed you of this."

"No it was Sakura…" Hinata paused and reflected for a few seconds and smiled to herself. "She has been really kind to me, I have to make it up to her when I get better."

"I guess she has her moments…" he didn't know what Sakura had told Hinata but he doubted it had been everything.

"She really likes you" Hinata said.

' _Wait a minute…'_ was Hinata trying to play matchmaker between him and Sakura?

"Things are a bit complicated" he tried to make her understand that Sakura was really not someone he had his eyes on.

"She has always wanted you, and she has always stood by your side" she blushed, she knew she was crossing over the ine with the Uchiha, but she wanted to do this for Sakura.

"I don't _want_ her to want me" it came out harsher than he had intended.

Hinata looked into his eyes for a second time now since he had entered the room. It felt as if time ceased to exist, looking at her eyes reminded him of all the times when he looked up at the moon the days he spent away from konoha. She had some kind of gravitation surrounding her that pulled him towards her, but they never collided he just continued to circulate around her. Being pulled in one second and pushed away the next.

Hinata on the other hand felt panicked looking into his eyes, she felt as if she was drowning. His eyes were so intense and she was so confused about everything. He looked at her as if he knew everything about her but he was just a stranger to her and it felt weird.

She couldn't look at him any longer.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have… I think I need some rest" she looked away from him, more confused now than ever.

"Then I'll be leaving. Just come to our usual training ground when they let you leave, I'm always there at the break of dawn."

"I… I don't know where that is" she said, embarrassed.

"Training ground 7" he walked over to the window instead of the door, Sakura was one of the people that he least wanted to see at the moment.

Before he jumped out of the window Hinata managed to squeak out a quiet "bye". She wasn't sure if he had heard it or not but she didn't want to feel rude.

Of all the things that she had been told, the fact that Sasuke was her anbu partner had definitely been the strangest thing yet so far.

* * *

‡

‡

Hi guys the was a little break there, I had some few papers I needed to write, and you know how it is.

Shout out to everyone who continues to read this, if you have any suggestions on what you want to happen next know that I read all your reviews. Some have really inspired me with this.

Also know that Sasuke and Hinata and _everyone_ in this fanfic will most likely feel very ooc, but I'm trying guys.

Until next time, (probably Friday/Saturday if I finish on time)


	12. Interlude

_Remember_ _this is my version of Sasuke and Hinata. To me Sasuke does not have the emotions of a rock and Hinata is a person who is still trying to find herself. If it does not suit you I guess that you should leave, unless you're a masochist. In that case; welcome._

* * *

 _Interlude_

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

 _(Just some moments from the month they first trained together)_

 _ **7**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

"You're late" Sasuke stated coldly.

Hinata, with this being her first time coming late because of her father, felt very ashamed and apologized. And just a week after they had started training together as well.

"Being on time is crucial" Sasuke turned around and faced the masked woman, disappointed, "If you are late one more time I will demand another partner."

"I understand, it won't happen again" she promised him.

It didn't happen again.

 ** _9th day of training_**

Hinata felt the ache all over her body she had definitely broken a few ribs again and sprained an ankle. Sasuke sat next to her and looked as if nothing had happened.

Hinata looked down at her ankle that she was wrapping up and let out a small sigh. Uchiha Sasuke clearly was on a completely different level than her. Naruto and Sasuke were practically gods compared to the other shinobis.

And she had thought that she could be a partner with one of them…

"Are you already giving up?" the Uchiha spoke all of a sudden.

Hinata looked up at him through her mask, "What? N-no! I just…"

A wind blew through the training grounds, cooling the sweat on her back and forehead. She dropped it, and decided to unpack her breakfast instead. That morning she hadn't gotten enough time to make a bento box so she had just grabbed a few cinnamon buns on her way out the door.

She glanced at Sasuke again, he never took any food with him.

"Do you want some?" she offered him a bun.

Sasuke looked at it and scoffed, "I don't eat sweets."

"Oh…" Hinata said in defeat and and took a small bite of the cinnamon bun beneath her mask, "They're my favorite."

 _ **12**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

She had legitimately broken a leg this training session and had almost passed out. It had sounded like a twig being broken in half and whenever she looked down she could see how it pointed out of place.

"We'll take a short break" Sasuke had said.

Hinata felt how the beads of sweat formed on her forehead and at the back of her neck. Her bone had to be pressing up against a nerve or something because she felt ready to faint at any second. She pushed slightly on her leg where the bone was broken in half, with her Byakugan she could see how it wouldn't be too difficult to fix but she would need some help to do it.

She mustered up all her courage, "Can you help me… please?"

Sasuke, who usually didn't wear his anbu mask when they were sparring looked at her, trying to see if this was just some secret motive of hers.

"I just need you to hold my leg so that the bone is in the right location" she informed him, trying to reassure him that she had no ulterior motives.

Hinata could see the switch in his face when he decided to help her without saying so much as a word. He walked over to her and crouched down in front of her, he looked down at her leg as if it would jump off and bite him at any second.

Hinata clenched her jaw and pushed the bone so it was in the right location. "Just hold it still right... there."

His hands took over the place hers had been just a second ago on her calf. Contrary to her previous beliefs the Uchiha actually had very warm hands, she had always imagined that Uchiha's had cold skin, like most people in her clan had.

Maybe twenty minutes later she was done and wrapped up her calf, she would not be able to put any weight on it for at least two days.

"We're done for today" Sasuke said and packed up his things.

 _ **13**_ _ **th**_ _**day of training**_

"Please accept this as my gratitude for your help" Hinata handed over a bento box to Sasuke. He looked at it for a moment before accepting it without a word – hopefully her cooking wasn't as lethal as Sakura's was.

He looked down at her leg. She barely put any weight on it and it had clearly not healed completely yet.

"Don't be dumb. No training today" Sasuke said and sat down.

Her food tasted deliciously.

 _ **17**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

To bring two bentos with her was something Hinata did naturally now, Sasuke hadn't complained so far (but there was that one time when he had left almost all his nattō behind so she stopped making that for him.)

"You're slow" he said during their break.

"I know…" in her old team she had been the slowest out of Shino, Kiba and her. And Sasuke was really not comparable with them so she could imagine that she looked like a slug next to Sasuke.

"Your taijutsu needs adjustments as well."

 _ **20**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

That Bani had a really nice body Sasuke figured out one morning when the rain fell down like angry bullets from the sky. It had drenched down their clothes completely. The Hyuuga's black anbu uniform stuck to her body almost like second skin.

Sasuke ended the training session earlier that day, blaming it on the weather.

 _ **21**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

Sasuke decided that the company of the silent Hyuuga woman who made great food was not as bad as he had first expected.

He didn't mind her.

 _ **23**_ _ **d**_ _ **day of training**_

"I was thinking about going to the memorial stone…" Hinata didn't look his way, "You can come as well, if you want."

Sasuke had wondered why the Hyuuga had brought flowers with her, this explained it to him.

"Why?" he asked bluntly.

"Today it has been four years since a close person of mine passed away…" he looked at the back of her figure, she didn't expect him to say yes.

Which is probably why he agreed to come with her.

 _ **29**_ _ **th**_ _ **day of training**_

"You have improved."

* * *

 _Hoho I'm back with some Flashbacks, since I noticed that some people can't really fill in time gaps themselves._

 _I will be updating regularly every Friday for at least three more upcoming weeks since I'm already done with those chapters._

 _And by the way try to imagine Sasuke more as how he is in boruto the movie and less like his old kill-sakura-and-hate-konoha type. Thanks._


	13. Elysium

_Elysium_

* * *

Hinata could now vaguely remember some parts of the war. It feels weird to regain memories, they don't jump on you out of nowhere, no they clear up gradually and show themselves as the fog disappears.

Neji was the first thing she remembered, it was just the day after they had let her out of the hospital that she remembered what had happened on that day. She had to stay home in the compound the whole day because she had cried so much that night.

It has now been a week since she got out of the hospital and she is contemplating on whether she should really go and see the Uchiha or not. The sun was not up yet but she could see small glimpses of it in the distance over the trees. Her father had told her that she would no longer be a shinobi after what had happened during her last mission. She was confused if that was because he was concerned for her safety or concerned of the clan's lineage and honor.

Then a raven landed on her windowsill, silent as the night it seemed as if it stared into her soul and dissected it into little pieces before piecing it back together. It flew away a short moment later, making no sound at all as it disappeared into the forest.

Hinata decided to go after all, she was getting sick staying in the compound all the time and maybe some sparring with the Uchiha could do her some good.

* * *

"So you decided to come. I didn't think you would" Sasuke said, back towards her. He sat on the ground in his all black anbu outfit, he was polishing his Katana. He looked at her over his shoulder, eyes as dark as night.

"I'm sorry, I have been a bit overwhelmed with all of this."

Sasuke noticed that she didn't wear her anbu clothes, instead she wore some light purple west and some short shorts. They looked highly impractical. Especially since it was getting colder outside as it was close to winter.

He frowned. "What are you wearing?"

Hinata blushed and looked down at her almost completely bare legs, "My old outfit was too small for me. My sister told me I bought this one as a replacement…"

"I'm sure that you probably have some of your anbu uniforms left somewhere. Put on that next time, it's less…" he looked down at her bare legs for a split second before he could stop himself, "less."

Hinata felt her face burn and could only imagine how ridiculous it looked. She nodded instead and the Uchiha stood up in front of her. Sasuke was at least a head taller than her.

"Here, it's yours" he said and handed over a mask to her.

Hinata took it and looked down at it. The mask looked familiar as if she might've dreamt about it once or twice. It was white with long ears and a dark purple spike on each side of it. Hinata looked away from the mask and at her left upper arm where her anbu tattoo was. She was starting to come to terms with the fact that she had indeed actually been an anbu, which still sounded insane to her.

Sasuke showed her his mask, it was black with a beak on it and two small dark blue spikes at the top of it.

"It feels so surreal, I was only a Chūnin from what I can remember…" She whispered and continued to looked down at the mask in her hands.

Sasuke didn't know what to say, he really should learn how to comfort people.

"Let's begin."

* * *

With her chakra levels more than quadrupled it came as no surprise to him that some things would change. They were only using taijutsu but he could feel the way that the power behind her punches were stronger and the quickness of her movements were faster. Before she couldn't really focus that much chakra on things like that. The Byakugan always came first.

One particular punch to his ribcage almost got him to double over. Of course Hinata immediately went over to him to fuss over him.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for it to be that hard!" she exclaimed and tried to see if he was alright.

He almost let her continue just because he liked the attention. But he didn't want her to see him as weak so he brushed her off of him and told her to continue.

"You should never hold back. If you do you won't know what you are capable of" he said and kicked her hard against the side of her stomach. She flew back a few feet before she got her footing once again. Sasuke was there ready to punch her but she managed to evade it in a quick turn of her body.

It continued like that, he hit her she hit him back, she tried to hit him he tried to hit her.

Sasuke was still the stronger one, but the gap between them had lessened.

* * *

About an hour or so later they decided to take a break and Hinata had brought with her some cinnamon buns.

Hinata was just about to take a new bite when she noticed that the Uchiha was still staring at her. "You're staring at me.."

"I'm just thinking" Sasuke smirked and looked away.

"Thinking about what?" she asked before taking another bite.

"How someone can eat ten cinnamon buns and not look like a whale" he looked at her again.

She looked down at her cinnamon bun and then at Sasuke's finished bento box, "You want some?"

"I don't like sweets" he dismissed her offer.

"I didn't know that, they're my favorite."

"I know."

"How?"

"You told me once" it had been during their second week of training, she had brought some with her.

"I did? I don't remember…" She said solemnly and took another bite.

"Do you remember me at all?" he asked, curious.

"No, I'm sorry…"

His mind flashes once more back to their kiss. It left him feeling pathetic.

"You have nothing to be sorry for" he assured her and looked up at the now bright sky. He was the one who should apologize, he was the one who had put her in this situation, but his pride stopped him from doing so.

Never before had he felt as if his pride had made him weaker.

"Most people have something that they're sorry for…" She said as she plucked up some grass from the ground, Sasuke looked at her but she continued to look down at the ground. "I'm no exception to that, are you?"

"Not even close" slipped out and he looked away.

"Oh, and… I would like to apologize for crossing the line in the hospital before" she didn't dare to look at him, still remembering him as a ruthless killer in the back of her mind.

"Just don't do it again" he said with a frustrated sigh.

"I won't."

That awkward silence, before it wouldn't be awkward, but now things were a bit different. Hinata still saw him as just some betraying murderer and he felt out of place just sitting next to her.

"Do you remember anything?"

Hinata swallowed down a lump in her throat and let go of the grass she had been gathering in her hand.

"I remember Neji now" Hinata let her head fall forward so that her hair fell around her face as a cover. "Some of it comes back to me in my dreams, but I don't really know if they are real or not."

"I might be able to help" Sasuke offered. Hinata looked up at him through her tresses.

"Am I Homura's reincarnation?"

"I think I heard that from somewhere, yes"

"Did I have an anbu team before ours?"

"... Yes."

"What happened to them?"

"They died… protecting you."

She nods her head and he can see her wiping her face with the back of her hand in the corner of his eye.

"Were they Hyuuga?"

"Yes."

"I'm just going to go and rinse my face…"

* * *

It started off as an usual day for Kiba. He woke up, ate breakfast and then went over to the training grounds next to where he lived. He stopped though when he picked up the familiar scent of Hinata, and the scent of the Uchiha that he had grown familiar with after their time spent together looking for Hinata. Instead of being brisk as he usually were he decided to stay behind and to observe.

At first he could only see the back of the Uchiha, he was sitting there cross-legged looking further into the forest. Soon after Hinata walked out of the forest and over to Sasuke. Her hair was wet and she wore her shinobi outfit – Kiba hadn't seen her in that for over a year.

Hinata sat down next to Sasuke, closer than what Kiba had expected. They didn't talk much, mostly it was about training and then something about cinnamon buns.

Kiba felt weird looking at them, it was strange seeing them interact with each other. Sasuke surprisingly didn't treat her like dog shit and that felt like a rare thing to see. Sure, since Sasuke had came back to the village after his around the world trip he had changed from his old brat kid self. But Kiba would still catch him judging people and making mean or blunt comments about people.

But with Hinata he hadn't noticed any of that yet so far. (He was probably just under the influence of alcohol, Kiba decided)

Even though they weren't talking about anything in particular it felt as if he was invading their privacy (which he was).

He turned around, deciding to train at another place that day.

* * *

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Yes, I'm back at it again!

Thank you for, following, favoriting, reviewing and just your continuous support in general.


	14. probably the last

I'm sorry but I don't think that I will be finishing up the story. But I feel like this should be satisfying enough until I have decided what to do with this story.

This takes place a couple of weeks after the previous chapter.

* * *

Today had been a particularly rainy day, and Sasuke had decided that seeing Hinata fighting in the rain was one of the best sights life could offer.

Training was, once again, a daily occurrence, no matter the weather. But this was close to a monsoon.

Just as he thought of ending today's training, Hinata slipped and fell as she tried to sweep kick him. She landed on her back in the wet grass and breathed in heavily, seemingly forgetting about his existence as she let the cold rain fall, and cool down her face. She looked so peaceful laying there, Sasuke couldn't help but stare before he offered her his hand.

"My place is not far off, we could go and dry off there" why did it feel like those words had an underlying meaning?

Hinata nodded.

* * *

They were close now and neither of them could look away. Hinata could feel the intoxicating warmth radiating from Sasuke's body like venom. It was pushing and pulling her, making her feel dizzy. His warm breath fanned over her cheeks, coloring them red.

Hinata closed her eyes and waited for Sasuke to close the gap between them. Seconds flew by and she almost opened her eyes to flee the scene when he brushed his lips against hers in a feather light kiss. He leaned away, the tickling warmth disappearing with him.

The Hyuuga heiress opened her eyes to look at him in confusion.

"Do you remember?" he whispered.

It was dark in the Uchiha estate, the power was off and the rain didn't let much light seep through. So it was hard for Hinata to see his face in the darkness of the room.

"No…" Hinata answered honestly. She still didn't know what he's talking about. "I don't need to remember."

Sasuke was eerily quiet as he removed some wet strands away from her face. Hinata couldn't read his stone cold face. His hand stopped on her cheek, the feeling smooth and delicate in his rough hands. She leaned into the touch and her eyes automatically shut again as she let out a soft sigh.

Their clothes were soaked through by the cold rain outside but her nerves felt as if they were on fire. She felt confusion with a mix of emotions but there was an undeniable attraction that she felt for the Uchiha which she could no longer ignore. He was like a hot burning fire in the middle of a cold and dark winters night. So cold it burned. Sasuke was truly a riddle that Hinata couldn't figure out.

Their second kiss lingered longer. If the first one was almost as a question then this one was a plead. It was all small bites, soft sounds of content, hands pulling and grabbing. There was something desperate to the way Sasuke kissed her, it was addictive.

They broke apart for some much needed air and Sasuke's hand stayed on her cheek while his other hand grabbed Hinata's waist to pull her closer to him. Hinata disentangled her firm grip on his shirt and put her arms around his neck instead. Sasuke made her feel more wanted than any other person she had met.

"Your room." she whispered, boldly, into his ear.

* * *

Sasuke's bed was huge and messily unmade, for some reason that surprised her. But the thought of Sasuke's messy bed left her mind as soon as she was thrown into it, bouncing slightly as she landed on the soft mattress. Suddenly, she was surrounded by Sasuke's smell, warm and earthy, it was probably the most inviting thing about him.

Leaning on her elbows, she watched as he removed his wet shirt and threw it, without a care, across the room. His eyes were on her the whole time, he smirked when he saw the blush deepening on her cheeks.

"Let's get you out of these wet clothes" Hinata swallowed and let him remove her training gear, leaving her in only her undergarments. He kissed her neck and all the way down to her abdomen.

Sasuke spread her knees wide and made a point of not staring too long, afraid that he would make her uncomfortable. Leaning down, he began leaving soft kisses along her smooth thigh, slowly but surely closing in on her clothed privates.

Sasuke felt the muscles under his mouth go tense, and he paused, glancing up. Hinata was pushed back into the pillows, her eyes screwed shut, a flush on her cheeks.

"Hyuuga?" he whispered, his hands squeezing her shaking thighs, thumbs rubbing along her silky skin. When Hinata didn't open her eyes or respond, Sasuke tried a little louder, "Hinata"

Pale lilac watery eyes snapped open, staring down at him, and Sasuke frowned.

"Are you alright?"

"O-of course," she forced out, and Sasuke's frown grew. He pushed himself up.

"If you don't want to do this, we can stop." he offered, and there was a moment of nothing, before he saw Hinata's shoulder sag.

"…Can we?" she looked helpless the way she said it.

Sasuke moved, until he was sitting next to Hinata, she was squirming under his arm, resting her head against his chest. "We don't have to ever, if you don't want to-"

"I do want to," Hinata pointed out, glancing up and meeting his eyes, he believed her. She had thought about it before and the idea of them doing it had made her flustered beyond belief. But right now, at this moment, she wasn't ready. "Ju-just…not tonight."

Sasuke was silent for a few moments until he leaned down and kissed her hair. "There's plenty of other nights, Hinata." she snuggled in closer, relieved, and Sasuke tipped his head back, closing his eyes, thinking he could wait centuries for this girl.

"I'll go and get something for you to sleep in," he sat up and looked down at her, only her head was sticking up from beneath the covers "if you want to stay."

"I'd like that." she said shyly, "...thank you, Sasuke."

He didn't say anything, he didn't have to.

* * *

Sasuke pressed his forehead to the space between Hinata's shoulder blades with his hand splayed, underneath the t-shirt she got to borrow, on her belly, holding her close. She was silent except for the shallow, light breaths that told Sasuke she was sleeping. He hadn't managed to fall asleep, his mind had been too chaotic with different thoughts after what had happened earlier that night.

"You will be the death of me, Hyuuga," he whispered, fingers now barely touching the curves of her back. "No one should make me feel…like this, like you do."

Sasuke paused, inhaled slowly. Smelled the scent of rain and grass in her hair, and beneath that the intoxicating smell so distinctively _her_.

It didn't matter how intimate he was with Hinata, speaking with his body was easier than finding the words he was saying now, in the dark of the room. As if he was alone.

"I would kill for you," Sasuke whispered, which was probably not the best of compliments. But it was beyond true at this point. If it meant keeping Hinata safe, he would disregard every law which he had begun to accept and follow over these past few years that he had spent back in the village. He would throw away all the trust he had earned back, without as much as a single thought.

"If you knew," Sasuke paused and pressed his mouth to the exposed skin in the nape of Hinata's shoulder, kissing softly. "Knew what you made me feel, Hyuuga. You would not recognize me." He barely recognized himself anymore.

Sasuke closed his eyes, dared to move his mouth up the nape of Hinata's neck to kiss lightly, some of Hinata's long strands brushing along his face.

"I love you."

He had never said those words out loud before, at least not for a long time. Sasuke sighed and fought down the urge to shiver, tightening his hold around Hinata. As he did, Hinata stirred, melting into his embrace. Sasuke tensed for a moment before he whispered.

"Were you sleeping?"

Hinata shifted and rolled onto her back to look up at Sasuke, offering him a sleepy smile.

"Yes, but it's okay." she admitted and reached up, fingers brushing along Sasuke's cheek in a feather light touch. Sasuke turned and kissed her palm before Hinata chose to shift again and press her face into the crook of Sasuke's neck, arms locking around him.

Sasuke rested his chin atop her head, closing his own eyes, and Hinata smiled lazily into his skin, toes curling as her heart raced.

Maybe Hinata would never remember what had happened between them before, but she didn't feel the need to anymore. A cold chill went down her spine and Sasuke pulled her in closer. If she was honest, she would probably kill for Sasuke too.


End file.
